Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-06-13

IS the heart of Christ; whose head, the head
OF Christ; whose basis tn word of Christ;
Tnose feai,ty, the mystical body OF Christ
@ @ShIiss Wnole and entire: bO. ty like the Man
COD, divine aud human at she same time. Have
you examined this body; this continued incar-
l nasion oi ChflstY Have yen counted all Its
iieIFDefSr ana ADMIRED the pesc, and harmony
that reign among them? Have Won measured
the sphere in which this body mo yes? In fine.
nave nave you considered maturely IN numerical
ical structure of this body2 First , he numer-
cal strength Of this body who esa compute
the mui9tHde Of its members, the nNh iber of its
generatlons3 . what grand spacisFA e of nu-
merleal strength presents itself t.,- ara enrapt-
uIed view AT shis very hour in yrhi,a | l am
addreesslng gou, we behold, visibly unitea to the
visible Catholic Church. not less than tNn hun
dred millions of souls, gathered frsm o1T parts
OF the earth. Two hundred millions og- souls
nourished Ia the bosom of the mother cisl rch
Dy tne same dlylne Sord; two hundred milIi onS
OF wills ruled,by the same divine ,nans;a es
two hundred millions OF hearts uuited by
ciaIllly, 70 ine same olvlne heart; two htnita d
millions OF lives forming at one and the soan
time the most powerful and the most horno,TA
Gus moral cohesion the world has eveyseer,
Inc second feature which we observts i'm tb,H
ical order and beauty Among the tIro h,,,,.A
dred millions of members who are ali uniteS!
IN ~ the same body, The hierarchy presents'one of
it is not possible forne to unfold fnlIv ~ ,-o,lI
view the inimitable beauty and harmon, ftitis
Superemlnent work Of God | can. nj
glimpse of this divine institution Lei
me, then, direct your ewes shoI,e
ali tne mllllons of members who constitIlre the
mystical body of Christ; above toe priesthood
above the Eplscop6cy above the Papacy ifself. |
above the earth beyond the most distant len
cts into the highest reaches of Heaven. there
Dehold the Aeed and heart the center AMI
crown OF tEis immortal hierarchy Jesus Christ.
from Him deSceDds all truth all charity ali |
senctity, all authority upon Peter and his sI-5-
eesSors; from them upon the Bishops; from the |
Bishops upon the pastors, and, through them, !
mon humanity. o, divine Hierarchy whose
matchless beauty. whose unpaEalleled harmony
whose transcendant majesty form the brigbtest /
gem IN the coronet OF glory that crowns the
holy Roman Catholic Church
=, b bat, perhaps that which serves to enhance /
tle grand features of the churea which we have
Just been contemplating is
HER HISTORICAL CHARACTER;
In other words, the conspicuous place which
Tod has given to His church in history We |
VIII pass over the 1000 years of treparution and
of prophecy, and we will consider only The
strictly historical lite of the church We NAV |
DeglA our study az Bethlehem, when the church |
reposed IN a crib with the infant Jesus or |
wheH the church, consisting of twelve men. as
ssihpled III small room, was replenshed with |
the holy spirit. Since that time nearly . n00
years have elapsed. What an eyentful history |
iOOO years OF prophetic preparation. Almost |
twenty centuries of historical existence snd
before her an indefinite future And if Won |
consider that each of these centuries has saen |
nearly three generations born in the bosom of |
tne church; ana II you multiply by the number |
of these generations the average humber Of |
the catholic communion, namely about two |
hundred millions of souls, you will arrive at a |
prodlgiouS figure bearing in numbers its own |
eiSGHeht history, Its own demonstrative evi-